Preparing for Worship - September 1, 2024

The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9. The Lord speaks to His chosen people, telling them to listen to all that He is teaching them so that they may receive the land He is giving them. (He says this nearly 70 times in the book of Deuteronomy alone.) They are not to add to or subtract from what God commands. These Words will be their wisdom and understanding for them and show other nations that God is near to them and hears them and leads them in a righteous way. They are to teach the things they have seen and heard to future generations and be diligent not to forget or depart from God’s Word themselves.

The psalm is from Psalm 119:129-136. This whole psalm, including these verses, rejoices in the wonderful Words and testimonies of God, which give light and understanding to the psalmist and to all who long for God’s will and love His Name. The psalmist knows he needs the Lord to turn to him and be gracious to him and keep his own steps steady, so that sin does not have dominion over him. He needs the Lord as his Redeemer, Who will shine His face upon him and keep teaching him and keep him from being one of those people who, so sadly, have no interest in keeping the Lord’s law.

In the Gospel lesson, from Mark 7:14-23, Jesus declared all foods clean, freeing people from the dietary rules and other ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. It is not such things going into us that pollute us. The true problem, He says, is our sinful human nature, which has been corrupted ever since the fall into sin. What defiles us are the evil thoughts and desires that come from within us and battle against God’s Word and will, battling especially the moral law of God, expressed in the 10 Commandments. (Notice how many of those Commandments are mentioned and violated in 7:20-23, in the thoughts and words and deeds that come out of people.) That is precisely why Jesus had to come and be our Savior and forgive our sins and give us new life and a new way, through the power of His Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Sacraments.

We know, even as believers in Christ, what a struggle it still is to follow our Lord Jesus and His will. Paul writes about that in the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 6:10-20, the last of eight readings from Ephesians that we have heard the last few months. Paul calls us to be strong in the Lord and His strength. We cannot battle the devil and his evil forces on our own. We need the whole armor of God in order to stand firm. Paul used the picture image of an ancient warrior and the armor that protects him. For Christians, this is truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, and especially, faith and salvation, all of which our Lord provides for us. Our sword is the Word of God, wielded not so much by us but by the Holy Spirit, along with prayer for each other and all the saints, again guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul knows that he needs such Words and prayer, too, to enable him to keep preaching the Gospel boldly, even though he is in chains in prison as he speaks and writes. We need this armor and power from our Lord in the present darkness of this 21st Century, too. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).